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Section 31
Section 31 is an agency within Starfleet that claims to operate in the name of the security of the United Federation of Planets. Little information is available about the activities of the organization, but one of its operatives has claimed that Section 31 deals with threats to the Federation that others do not even realize exist. In the 22nd century, an ancestral organization within the Earth Starfleet acted covertly in the interests of United Earth. 22nd Century Origins Section 31 takes its name from Article 14, Section 31 of the Earth Starfleet Charter, which allowed certain rules of conduct to be "bent" during times of extraordinary threat. At some point before 2151, Malcolm Reed was recruited by Section 31 or an ancestor of that organization. By the time Reed was posted to the starship ''Enterprise'', he was no longer actively involved in covert operations. However, in late 2154, when Reed was investigating the kidnapping of Dr. Phlox, he was contacted by Harris, a covert operations leader for whom Reed had previously worked. Harris's organization had entered into a secret agreement with Klingon Admiral Krell: the Klingons would abduct Phlox and force him to aid them with a deadly plague, and Starfleet would turn a blind eye. Harris ordered Reed to slow down the Enterprise's investigation until Phlox could develop a cure. Reed complied, but his tampering was discovered by Captain Archer and T'Pol, and Reed was thrown in the brig. T'Pol reconstructed Reed's communication logs and discovered that he had been in contact with Harris. When confronted with this information, Reed confessed that he had been following Harris's orders. Later, Harris contacted Archer (as per Archer's earlier request of Reed). Later, Reed told Harris not to contact him again. Harris suggested that his organization's "recruitment policy" did not permit agents to quit, but Reed retorted that he had only one commanding officer: Jonathan Archer. (ENT: "Affliction", "Divergence") In 2155, Section 31 agreed to provide intelligence on the Earth-based Human terrorist group Terra Prime to the NX-01 crew when it was discovered that Terra Prime was attempting to disrupt the creation of the Coalition of Planets and to drive all non-Humans out of Earth's star system. (ENT: "Demons", "Terra Prime"). :It may be presumed that when the United Federation of Planets was founded in 2161 and the Federation Starfleet established, the agency later known as Section 31 either transferred its purported loyalties to the UFP or was founded as an off-shoot of its Earth Starfleet - and, possibly, any potential Vulcan, Andorian, and/or Tellarite - counterpart(s). '' 24th Century Machinations In 2358, Captain Erik Pressman of the USS Pegasus was assigned the task of testing a interphase cloaking device which, according to William Riker, had been developed by a "secret section of Starfleet security" (ENT: "These Are the Voyages..."). Though not explicitly named it is possible the group referred to by Riker, and possibly unknown to him as he was only an ensign at the time, was in fact Section 31. In 2374, Section 31 attempted to recruit the Augment chief medical officer of station Deep Space 9, Julian Bashir after putting him through psychological testing on the holodeck of a ship to which he had been abducted. The commanding agent of that operation was a man known as Luther Sloan, who described Section 31 as an autonomous agency created as part of the original Starfleet Charter.asdf ''In "Extreme Measures" (DS9) Bashir stated that Section 31 had existed for "300 years". Bashir, appalled at the thought of an agency that is accountable to no one and regularly violates the principles upon which the Federation was founded, rejected Sloan's offer, though Section 31 continued to regard him as a potential asset. Bashir alerted the command staff of Deep Space 9, including his CO, Captain Benjamin Sisko, and the officers in the Bajoran Militia, Constable Odo and Major Kira Nerys, of Thirty-One's existence and attempt to recruit him. Odo likened Thirty-One to the United Federation of Planets' equivalent of the Cardassian Union's Obsidian Order, or the Romulan Star Empire's Tal Shiar — the Federation secret police. Sisko and Bashir planned to use any future contacts with Thirty-One as opportunities to expose the organization or to shut it down. (DS9: "Inquisition") In late 2375, Agent Sloan appeared to Bashir again, assigning him to diagnose the health of Koval, Chairman of the Tal Shiar, during an upcoming conference on Romulus. In the course of his efforts to expose Thirty-One, Bashir discovered that he had actually been manipulated by Sloan into convincing Romulan Senator Kimara Cretak to access Koval's personal database, on suspicions that Section 31 planned to assassinate Koval. This gave Koval sufficient evidence to have Cretak arrested, which assured his seat on the powerful Continuing Committee. Bashir later learned that Koval was an agent of Section 31, after discovering Starfleet Admiral William Ross' complicity in the scheme. It seemed Section 31 had been planning for what it regarded as a likely war with the Romulan Star Empire following the Dominion War. The agency projected that the Dominion was likely to end up confined to the Gamma Quadrant, the Cardassian Union occupied and left in shambles, and the Klingon Empire to spend at least ten years rebuilding from the damage left by the Klingon-Cardassian War, the Second Federation-Klingon War, and the Dominion War. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges") Later that year, while researching the disease ravaging the Great Link and Odo, Bashir discovered that Section 31 had engineered the morphogenic virus and infected Odo during his time on Earth in mid-2372, in a preemptive attempt to neutralize the Dominion by committing genocide. Bashir lured Sloan to Deep Space 9 with false claims of having developed a cure. There, he used a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to link his mind and that of Chief of operations Miles O'Brien to Sloan's, allowing them to discover the real cure. Sloan attempted to commit suicide, nearly killing Bashir and O'Brien (who were still linked to Sloan's mind) in the process. (DS9: "Extreme Measures") The Federation Council later voted not to share the cure with the Founders as long as the war continued, even while Odo was treated. This appears to have been part of a systematic attempt to cover up Section 31's existence — Bashir's and Sisko's 2374 reports had prompted an inquiry at Starfleet Command that was quietly stonewalled within one year, indicating that someone at Command was protecting Thirty-One. The cure was later given to the Female Changeling by Odo so that she would surrender her forces. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind") Appendices Background The organization seen in "Affliction" and "Divergence" was never explicitly referred to as "Section 31", although interviews with Star Trek: Enterprise production staff confirm that it is intended to be the same as the organization seen on ''Deep Space Nine''. Harris wears a leather uniform similar to the one worn by Sloan two hundred years later, and refers Captain Archer to "Article 14, Section 31" of the Starfleet charter. This is consistent with Sloan's comment that Section 31 was created as part of the "original" Starfleet charter, as well as Bashir's statement that Thirty-One has managed to stay hidden for "over three hundred years," though writer Ronald D. Moore later admitted that the "three hundred years" figure was a mistake and should have been only around two hundred. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind") Apocrypha Although the televised appearances of Section 31 have been limited to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, a short series of novels, Star Trek: Section 31, has also been published, documenting encounters with Section 31 in the other Star Trek series. In Section 31, it is revealed that the rogue agency had a hand in the disastrous test of the Omega molecule, that Admiral Cartwright was a Thirty-One agent, that an agent of theirs was aboard the USS Voyager when it was transported to the Delta Quadrant in 2371, that the agency attempted to recruit Enterprise-E conn officer Lt. Hawk, and that it continues to regard Bashir as an asset. Section 31 has also appeared in the Star Trek: A Time to... series. In "A Time to Kill" and "A Time to Heal" by David Mack, it is revealed that Section 31 has a hand in a coup d'etat organized against the President of the United Federation of Planets, whom they assassinate. All of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVDs feature several Section 31 hidden files, also known as 'easter eggs.' Category:Agencies de:Sektion 31